Happy travels for Barwell
It was no surprise when, after 52 minutes, Tigers prop Will Bennett forced his way over the line from short-range to cut the deficit.
Tigers again went close shortly afterwards after Dacey had been carded for an infringement at the breakdown but some good defensive work secured a turnover from the resultant line-out and Hinckley were able to clear their lines.
Strangely, with only 14 men on the field, Hornets then seemed to regain their composure and begin to re-assert themselves.
On 68 minutes, Martin picked up a loose ball from a Tigers scrum on the half-way line and ran in to score under the posts.
Joe Wilson converted to give Hornets a 5-22 lead with 13 to go.
With that score, Tigers seemed to wilt and three minutes later, a clever kick over the top of the Tigers defence from Wilson resulted in Jonny Sykes, enjoying his first start for the Club, falling on the ball to claim a first try and secure the bonus point for Hornets.
Wilson again converted.
And as if to rub salt into BARWELL made it seven away games without defeat when they picked up a 2-0 win away at Workington AFC.
The game took a little while to settle, with Workington restricted to the amount of chances they could create. They could not cause any trouble for the Barwell defence.
The game burst into life on 32 minutes, when Canaries midfielder Brady Hickey was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Matt Stenson stepped up, but Aaran Taylor got down well to save to his lefthand side.
Barwell reacted well and opened the scoring ten minutes later. Brady Hickey won the ball and smashed it into the top corner from 15 yards.
Workington came flying out of the blocks in the seocond half. Sam Joel saw his shot deflected for a corner and a header crashed against the crossbar.
n 66 minutes, Barwell substitute Craig Reid rolled the ball into the net, but the linesman had flagged for offside.
Five minutes later, Workington had their best chances of the game. Rob Wilson’s shot from range rattled the crossbar, and Liam Castle did well to deny Matty Douglas from the rebound.
With fifteen to play, Barwell winger Owen Story sealed three points when Jamie Mellen played a short pass and Story intercepted to fire past Taylor.
Following the match, Barwell boss Jimmy Ginelly was full of praise for how his team executed their game plan.
He said: “I was really, really pleased with that because that’s exactly how we play at the moment.
“We’re having three lads pressing and we’re getting our rewards.
“We got our reward last week at Lancaster and we could have got the winner - that we all know went over the line, but bad luck.
“Today, we pressed and pressed on a bad pitch.
“That was part of my team talk: if you press them, they can’t pass across the back and it will end up in the mud.
“I don’t think the fans watching will have understood that the pitch was 6-8 inches deep in mud.
“We did say to just try and close them down and there will be mistakes at the back. We’ve capitalised on two back passes. the Tigers wounds, from the kick-off, Hornets collected the ball and an end to end move saw Martin break the Tigers defensive line from 10m to score under the posts.
Wilson converted to give Hornets victory 5-38.
It could be said, and many in the home crowd did say, that the final score flattered Hinckley when the game seemed in the balance with less than 15 to go.
However, the manner in which Hornets simply demolished the Tigers defence in the final stages of the match after what had proved a highly attritional game perhaps demonstrated a level of fitness and professionalism that Tigers in the end could not match.
What is certain is that the result set up next week’s game against Sale superbly.
Only points difference separates the two sides at the top of the division, although Sale do have a game in hand.
Other results largely favoured the top two and we can look forward to what will be one of the most important games in Hinckley’s recent history.
It promises to be a cracker. Don’t miss it, kick-off is at 3.00pm.